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Monday, June 8, 2015

Tien Ma's Taiwanese Cuisine in Quezon City

Metro Manila is roughly 600km² big but with the crazy traffic jam that happens everywhere in the metro, every single day, it somehow makes going from one point to another feel like an out of town drive. Since I spent most of my days with Kongkong and Ama in Quezon City, you'll noticed that most of the places that I've visited for this trip is just within this vicinity. Not a big problem there as Quezon City is one of the biggest cities and there sure are a LOT of dining options to choose from.

Let me start with my latest find -- Tien Ma's Taiwanese Cuisine. I've actually heard of this restaurant from Mommy who even called me when I was here in Singapore to tell me about their latest food discovery. It must be that good that Mommy couldn't wait to tell me in person, right? Located along the busy intersection of N.S. Amoranto and D. Tuazon, parking may be a bit of a challenge but luckily, we went there for late lunch so it was easy to spot an empty slot.

The menu was quite extensive but not intimidating. As with all Taiwanese restaurants, we just have to start our meal with a basket of Xiao Long Bao (Php. 200/9pcs.) One bite and we all nodded our approval, it was delicious! The soup was so flavorful and the meat was yummy. You see, that's the challenge with most xiao long baos. It's quite hard to stand out as there's just one general recipe on how to make it but Tien Ma's has made the soup exceptionally tasty.

Next dish that came looked quite funny. It was like an upside down crepe which apparently was the Pan-Fried Pork with Shrimps Dumplings (Php. 200). My FIL told us that this was the authentic way of cooking pan-fried dumplings and Tien Ma's has nailed it! I love how the based was so crispy yet keeping the over-all wrapper silky smooth and the filling juicy. We finished this whole plate so quickly that we decided to order another one. The thing here though is you have to consume it as soon as it was served. Don't leave it out in the cold or else it wouldn't be as yummy anymore.

To go with our dumplings, we had the 3-Cup Chicken (Php. 199) which I think was so worth the price. This goes so well with rice and the sauce had that yummy salty-sweet blend which we all loved. The chicken was very tender and I'm glad that they didn't cheat in giving us all boney parts. I also love the huge garlic cloves that came with it. This is a must-try!

The "adults" (Paul and I were the kids that day hehe) got the Eggplant in Special Sauce (Php. 199). Not a fan of eggplant so I skipped out on this. Judging from the empty claypot though, it seemed like it was pretty good too.

We also tried the Golden Tilapia with Bean Sauce (Php. 199). Which was just a-okay for me.

Of course, with all our savory dishes, we just got to have rice. The Seafood Fried Rice (Php. 200) was a pretty big serving which is probably good for 6-8 pax. The flavor and texture reminds me of my favorite Shrimp Fried Rice from DTF. Yum yum yum!

I was really happy with our meal at Tien Ma's. It was indeed a delicious discovery and looks like my family will be frequenting this for days, months and years to come. As for Paul and I, we will definitely be back on our next visit to Manila!